


crystalline chaos.

by chocobrosvevo



Category: Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII Series, Final Fantasy XIII-2, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cairai - freeform, F/M, Freeform, cursing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-07
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-07-22 05:44:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7422160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chocobrosvevo/pseuds/chocobrosvevo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of CaiRai drabbles. Can be related or not. On-going. </p><p>4. It was what usually happened after their battles that she dreaded most.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. affection.

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya! This chapter has no smut... yet. It does have an F word though. Implications apply ;)
> 
> Also, this chapter was inspired by affection - cigarettes after sex. I recommend listening to them! Although this song in particular is very CaiRai :)

She found him at the university she studied in, coincidentally taking up the same major as her. It was comforting finding someone she personally knew from the old world, past differences aside. And so she had taken to his company to ease herself into the unfamiliar territory that was being a university student. 

Lightning learned that they had a lot in common. They both had to care for others. Her, for her sister. Him, for his charge.

Over the course of their four years together—as companions, nothing more, she reminded herself, she grew to appreciate the man that he was. Fiery in soul and mind, it was no wonder how he lived so long back then without losing his wit. She had just the fire to match his. 

They shared many arguments, some in jest and some so heated that they reminded her of their never-ending battles in Valhalla. Opinions on politics, weapons, theories, and whatever lessons their professors had discussed were always at the forefront of those debates. 

"Caius, that's insane."

"It's quite pracitcal once you think about it."

"Ugh," She released an exasperated sigh as she ran a hand through her hair. "You know what? Go fuck yourself." 

There was no way his sword could beat her gunblade. That garish thing was incredibly difficult to wield, not to mention impractical in battle.

She stood to leave, frustrated beyond words about his ridiculousness. He grasped her wrist. His hand felt soft, warm and his grip was so gentle she thought she could melt into it. 

"Odd. I wanted you to do that." 

Surprised beyond words, all she could do was sputter incoherent strings of words as she fumbled through her shock-addled brain for an adequate response. But he beat her to it.

"You are remarkably beautiful when you're silent." And he kissed her. A brief touch of lips. So chaste and innocent that she wondered if this was what contentment felt like. 

She leaned into him, all thoughts of insulting him gone as she threw caution to the wind and tenderly pressed her lips back to his.


	2. the sound.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 2\. the sound. A sleeping Claire. A thoughtful Caius. No smut, yet!

Claire pressed her ears to his chest, listening to the steady pumping of blood in his heart and noticing the lack of the eerie glow that marked the presence of Etro's gift, or curse, as he had likened to once upon a lifetime. The strong thump, thump, thump resonating in echoes in their bedroom satisfied her enough to lull her to sleep. 

Caius noticed that she had fallen asleep after she leaned on his chest. She had always done that right before she slept, more so lately now that she was with child. He cracked a small smile at that habit of hers.

He tangled his fingers in her hair, soothing her; wordlessly reminding her that the Heart of Chaos that had indirectly caused his instability was no longer that. He was no longer Caius Ballad, the man so hellbent on killing a goddess and tearing the world asunder if it meant saving his surrogate daughter from the torment of her constant cycle of reincarnation—he was Caius Ballad, a former warrior from Paddra, the fabled Guardian of Pulsian legends; but more than that, he was simply a man who would protect his newfound family at any cost. 

Being reincarnated into this new world wasn't something he had anticipated. He had wholly resigned himself to his fate as the champion of the new goddess of death yet here was Lightning—no, Claire, as she now went by in this world—who gripped his hands so firmly in hers that he'd thought she actually had feelings for him that weren't something akin to spite or anger. 

And she did, she whispered to him many, many nights after they'd found each other again. He couldn't suppress his wistful smile. If the Yeuls in the Unseen Realm could see him now. Here was Caius Ballad, the legendary guardian of Paddran epics, married to his former eternal rival—Etro's champion herself—and about to start a family with her. 

It was madness, she told him once when they had gained their bearings on how they truly felt for each other. 

"Yes," he whispered as he tucked a stray tendril of her hair behind her ear. "The good kind."

He breathed her in as the memory flooded his senses, indirectly rousing her from her peaceful sleep. 

Groggily, Claire reached out a sleep-laced hand on his broad chest and smiled up at him, though he had yet to glimpse at her. The thoughtful look on his face was incredibly adorable.

"Something on your mind?" Claire's voice roused him from his thoughts. He smiled down at her, the warm kind that sent all sorts of moogles into a frenzy in her stomach—or maybe that was just the baby. 

"Just you."

Okay, it was the moogles.


	3. twist of fate.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claire's musings on Caius and the oddities of it all.

Sometimes Lightning—Claire—wondered how ironic life could be. One second she was fighting an endless battle against an ancient legendary Paddran warrior, the next she was resting her head on said warrior's chest. Granted, they were no longer warriors in this new world but somehow, she couldn't shake off the muscle memory of her battle reflexes. Not that she needed them when she was with him. 

They'd settled into this conveniently domesticated routine that was the norm on this planet. She found him at the university she studied in, coincidentally taking up the same major as her. It was comforting finding someone she personally knew from the old world, past differences aside. 

Claire learned that they had a lot in common once they had decided to set aside their rivalry. They both had to care for others, for one.

Her, for her sister. Him, for his seeress. 

They were seasoned soldiers, trained in the finer arts of battle, yet nothing had prepared them for the onslaught of emotions that blossomed the more time they spent together. 

She stared thoughtfully at the ceiling of the room they shared. That idea hasn't really sinked into her, living with him, breathing the same air as him when they leaned close enough. It was too surreal. 

Somehow, she didn't mind this strange twist of fate.


	4. the sequence.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was what usually happened after their battles that she dreaded most.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has smut! Nothing too explicit, though. Also my first time writing one in YEARS. May add more to this in the future but for now I feel like I have nothing more to add.

Strange ideas take form when faced with the reality of eternity. A clashing of blades suddenly turned into a crashing of lips. Teeth and tongues clashed as heat quickly rose with each breath they took. 

He tasted the despair on her lips. Fed off it, even. And she could feel the chaos swirling on his tongue in her mouth. She craved it. Needed it like the very air they both breathed. 

Somehow, things grew complicated between them. Their routine of futilely battling an endless war tinged with insults had turned into a sequence of fighting and fucking that she couldn't place her fingers on how it even began in the first place. 

A cloud of chaos formed around them and they instantly materialized in Lightning's bedchamber in Etro's temple. It was sacrilege, she thought. To sexually indulge Etro's would-be destroyer in her very own sanctuary. 

Their armors, both bestowed upon them by the goddess herself were haphazardly scattered across the room. The sound of lips meeting, sighs, and moans filled the room as their pace increased; the burgeoning pleasure growing too great to ignore any further. 

All thoughts fled her frazzled mind as he pushed into her; hot, hard, and thick—Lightning thought she would melt. She held onto his arms, burying her face into the crook of his neck, gasping for breath as he pulsed with every thrust of his hips. Every shove showing her how much he craved her, needed her. 

He'd never felt so alive. With her pulsating around him, drawing him closer to her like she could never have enough of him. He was hanging on the edge of whatever this was called. He hated her with every fiber of his being and yet he could not stop his body and his mind's desire for everything she has to offer—mind, body, and soul. 

All too soon, their climax approaching; her telltale contractions around him, lacing his spine with tingles that were all too welcome to his battle-hardened body. 

Together they came undone. Breaths mingled, limbs untangled and somehow, basking in the afterglow of whatever it was they shared—Lightning found that perhaps this was something divinely predestined. Or Etro just liked messing around with her chosen warriors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I'm accepting prompts for this series. Hit me up or leave a comment if you have anything to suggest. I have a coffee shop AU planned out next but that's subject to change because writer's. Block.   
> Also: do keep in my mind that this fic is pretty much my experimental playground—anything goes. Constructive criticism is most definitely welcome!

**Author's Note:**

> Idk what to have them argue about that wouldn't offend anybody so I settled for weapons lol


End file.
